Author: Ari Paul and Michael Brooks

Michael Brooks is a contributor and producer on the Majority Report, host of INTERSECTION on Aslan Media and his writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Al-Monitor and Al Jazeera. Ari Paul is a journalist in New York City and has covered politics for the Nation, the Guardian, the Brooklyn Rail, VICE News, the New York Observer, Jacobin, In These Times, the Forward, Al Jazeera America and many other outlets.

We are tired of the “hypocrisy argument”. From the response of the left to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks to the dumbing down of public discourse on domestic surveillance, too many progressives appeal to arguments about personal consistency, and avoid the harder questions about policy, ethics, race and media freedom. (More…)

Suppose you learned some new facts about Star Wars, that could shake the narrative that the Rebel Alliance defeated imperial aggression when it destroyed the Death Star. The Rebels, in their cash-strapped infancy, received money from the National Endowment for Democracy, as American officials saw it as a way to break the Galactic Empire’s monopoly on shipping routes. (More…)